


A Loved Man

by panther



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Death, M/M, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-03-19
Packaged: 2018-03-18 15:13:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3574373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panther/pseuds/panther
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The same illness that killed Astoria has now come from Scorpius. He has no idea how to tell Al when he knows what his husband will have to live through. He has seen it all before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Loved Man

Scorpius puts off going to the healers for weeks, well maybe a month or two if he is honest with himself. The symptoms are too raw and too familiar and he is only sixty-four. That would be old enough if he was a Muggle, at a push, but he isn't. Scorpius is a wizard and he hoped for nearly a hundred years more. More years with Al. When he eventually goes it is the same Healer that treated his mother and he does the same tests Scorpius accompanied her to. Like his mother before him he does not say anything to his husband until he has a true diagnosis. Even after that he leaves it a week because it is Ginny's birthday and he doesn't want to worry his family. The Potter family is close but the Weasley family even closer so everyone comes. Everyone. Scorpius can't have that hanging over them. 

He tells Albus because the guilt is heavy and another family gathering looms. He makes their usual Sunday meal and puts out a better wine than usual and he doesn't let any of the elves help. They look offended and Scorpius finds himself explaining himself to them before his husband. They look horrified but know how to keep a secret and disappear into their corners when Albus comes home. Scorpius waits until dinner is finished and the wine, red, is at room temperature.

"Al. I have not felt well recently." 

Blunt seems best, because how else could he start really? 

"I know. Everything was wrong, really. I did not know how to ask."

"I don't know where to start."

"What you felt."

Scorpius offers Al a glass of wine and shuffles on the couch. The cat they adopted from a shelter hisses at being disrupted and Scorpius wonders what will happen to her. She has years to live. Scorpius doesn't.

"I went to a healer a couple of weeks ago. I didn't want to say anything until I knew anything for sure." Scorpius begins but Al interrupts.

"So, it is serious. You would nothing have said anything otherwise."

"Al...don't be like that. I just didn't want to worry you if there was no reason but yes...there is a reason now. The tumour my mother had. I have it. There is no way to cushion it."

Al stares, cocks his head, opens his mouth and shuts it, moves his hands one way and another and then stills. 

"What did they say?"

"Four months. There is nothing that they can do."

Albus and Scorpius were never all that careful with one another. They know when they must be blunt and honest and this is one of those times. Albus stares and heaves but he is not sick. He pets the cat and he stares but other than that he holds it in. What else can he do? 

"You should have told me before."

"And worry you? I did not know if it was serious. I just had headaches. I was tired. You have a department to run I-"

"You are far more important than any department could be! For the love of Merlin we are married!!" Albus almost spits at him. Scorpius feels bad, he does, but not bad enough.

"I was there when my mother went through those tests. I saw what my father went through. I wasn't about to put you through them."

"That was my choice. Not yours."

"Does it matter now?"

Al looks away, eyes heavy with tears, and then rises to get a bottle of wine. He pauses to pet the cat, Orion, on the way but it does not matter when Al turns and starts looking for their marriage certificate. Once he has it he disappears to his parent's home and Scorpius is left alone. 

He waits twenty-five minutes and then realises his pride means nothing against his life and throws himself into the fireplace. Ginny is waiting on the porch, a pot of tea beside her, a warm hug as soon as he is out. Al got there first. 

"He is hurt that you don't include him. I know what your mother went through. One look when he fell through the fireplace and I knew. Do not hide from him. We are here for you. Apart from that I can only ask if your tea is ok?"

It is and Scorpius travels the old staircases until he finds Albus facing a window with a mug of tea in his hands. There is a Muggle playground in the distance. Ginny puts on the radio downstairs and somehow it feels private.

"I did not want to hurt you."

"Planning your funeral will hurt more than any words that you can give and I would hope that you know that." Albus states quietly without shifting his gaze or moving a muscle.

"I saw my parents-"

"You saw your parents love each other. You saw them support each other and you did that with me by your fucking side. Does that mean nothing?!" Albus spits. 

"I'm dying-"

"I know that! How could I not? I was there when Draco watched over Astoria. I was there to support you. I was there. I knew the minute you looked at me. I knew. What your mother has, you have it." Al all but screams.

"So does that not make you see how I do not want you to be in the same position? You are my love, Al, not my nurse." Scorpius states carefully. He pours himself a glass of wine, having dragged it covered with a glass through the floo. Ginny had thankfully ignored it. He sips it carefully and he watches Al run hands through his hair and throw himself onto the couch. 

"A husband is there for you no matter what, Scor. That is all I can say."

Scorpius know when he has to back down. So he takes three days.

*

"No. No and no some more. I will not speak of this!"

"Al, we are men. The inheritance is different. You need to sign this so I can see you cared for!"

"I am cared for. I'm a Potter, for Merlin's sake. I was looked after before I was conceived. I don't need your money, Scorpius, I don't want it!" Al roars and Scorpius finds it hard to argue with him but he must. He was worked many long years and he is determined that Al benefits from that. Only Al. Not some distant relative that he never sees. He needs a signature. 

"But I want you to be cared for by me. Is that so much to ask? To let what I worked for us...work for what is left of us?"

"Don't say that!" Al screams, and for a moment Scorpius thinks he may lash out or leave but he doesn't. Instead he crumbles into the couch of his father's study, puts his head in his hands and cries. Deep wrenching sobs fill his body and Scorpius can only wait until he is ready for comfort, ready for words a while after. 

"I want you to be free to be whoever you want to be wherever that is. I want you to move on and be happy and have to introduce Orion to someone he doesn't like. I don't want you to be my father, Al." 

"I was never going to be, but that does not mean I will just accept everything, take it on the chin and move on. You know I'm not that man, Scorpius."

"No, you are the man I love."


End file.
